Lilac-banded Longtail (Urbanus dorantes)

Scientific name: Urbanus dorantes (Stoll, 1790)
Common name: Lilac-banded Longtail
Other names: Dorantes Longtail
French name:
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Rhopalocera
Family: Hesperiidae
Subfamily: Eudaminae
Wingspan: 37-51 mm.
Biotope: Road and track sides, woodland edges, clearings.
Geographic area: South America, Central America, extreme south of the United States, West Indies.
Flight time: All year round.
Number of generations : Up to 4 in the south of the United States, maybe more further south...
Caterpillar: Yellowish brown or greenish with a large black globular head and a thin dark dorsal line. The sides are marked with yellow spots bordered with dark.
Host plant: Many Fabaceae.

Among Long-tailed Hesperiidae species, you can tell apart those of the Urbanus genus by the rather uniform colour of the under side of the hind wings marked with dark parallel stripes.
The Lilac-banded Longtail (Urbanus dorantes) is a dark brown ground colour. It shows small light coloured spots and the fore wings and dark stripes on the under side of the hind wings.
You can tell it apart with the dark submarginal stripe on the under side of the fore wings being interrupted by a pale finger-shaped mark next to the apex.
The two dark bands on the underside of the hind wings have a rather irregular shape.
The Urbanus genus includes 35 species. The Lilac-banded Longtail (Urbanus dorantes) is one of the commonest. Here is some additional information to tell it apart from other common species.
The Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus) shows some pale blue colour on the upper side of the body and on the base of the wings. The dark submarginal stripe on the under side of the fore wings is not interrupted near the apex.
The Brown Longtail (Urbanus procne) and the Plain Longtail (Urbanus simplicius) do not show any small light coloured spot and the fore wings.
The Tanna Longtail (Urbanus tanna) and Urbanus ambiguus bear two thin white lines on the fore wings.
Urbanus velinus shows two very dark stripes on the under side of the hind wings. These stripes extend to a very dark tail. The post-median stripe has a very regular shape unlike on Urbanus dorantes.

Lilac-banded Longtail (Urbanus dorantes) - French Guiana, France - March 3rd 2012

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I have shot this picture in Rémire-Montjoly while walking along the Rorota footpath.
The submarginal stripe on the under side of the fore wings is not very visible but you can clearly see the paler mark, next to the apex, and typical of the Urbanus dorantes species.

Urbanus sp. - French Guiana, France - March 6th 2012

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I have shot this picture at Awala Yalimapo, les Hattes, while walking on a footpath going southwards from the D22 road.
There is some kind of a paler mark next to the apex on the under side of the fore wings but this is much less marked than on the reference pictures I have able to find.
So, not being totally sure, I have just listed this one as Urbanus sp.

Urbanus sp. - French Guiana, France - March 10th 2012

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I have shot this picture in the small village of Saül.
Impossible for me to tell more than Urbanus sp. without an underside view of the hind wings.

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André Bon August 2014